20 Facts About Zacharias Smith
by ceirdwenfc
Summary: 20 Facts about Zacharias Smith. AU.


20 Facts for Zacharias Smith

He thought Ginny's Bat Bogey Hex was amazing. Until she did it on him.

He would have liked to be a professional Quidditch player after Hogwarts, but he knew he didn't quite meet the talent threshold. He was good, but he was no Cedric Diggory.

He hates kneazles. He thinks it stems from his step-mother's fascination with them and then of course, there was Umbridge in 5th year. Luckily, he'd only had to be in her office twice that year. The mewing made him want to claw his ears out.

When he first kissed Ginny, he thought she would taste sweet like strawberries and was both disappointed and intrigued when he found she tasted like hot sauce. It still wasn't that bad.

After that first kiss, she wouldn't look him in the eye during DA practice, but she still managed to stay late each time he was scheduled to clean up the room. On those days, they would leave together.

He put up a great façade, but she must have known that it was his first time also. He had never seen a thestral, much less flown on one before, but she seemed to know what she was doing as they took flight over the mountains of Scotland. When they arrived back in the wee morning house, he kissed her sweetly on the lips and this time she tasted of strawberries.

He was so proud when Ginny made the Harpies' team. He smiled and hugged her and re-read her letter three times more than she did, but he still felt a twinge of jealousy that she was achieving his long held dream. He also knew that she knew.

When he left the DA halfway through 7th year, Ginny was the only one to speak with him. She didn't try to convince him to return – she couldn't. Colin had seen to that, but she held his hand and they met in secret behind the tapestry, and he held her as she cried when her brother died.

He was surprised when the invitation came. Having survived the Battle of Hogwarts, Ernie and Susan decided to have a formal wedding on their first anniversary. Cecily had been born in September, and he had not yet met her. It was awkward at first, but he was glad that Ginny invited him to be her guest. As they snogged like mad in the pantry, he almost wished that he had worn a kilt like Ernie, but Ginny didn't seem to have any problems with his manner of dress as her hands touched his bare skin beneath his clothing.

They hadn't seen each other in the two years that followed, but at Hannah and Neville's wedding, he was happy to find himself half-dressed in the pantry again with Ginny. He was more assertive this time and as they crashed through the door, his pants around his ankles, her skirt over her hips, neither wearing a shirt, he grinned at the best man, thanking Merlin it wasn't a red headed Weasley who'd opened the door.

The third wedding they attended that they were caught in the pantry was the most embarrassing since it was fifteen minutes before the start of the ceremony. They thought they _might_ be missed, but they knew no one would start without the bride.

Or the groom.

As he caressed her bare skin, he loved the roundness, the fullness, so firm and yet soft. The darkening peak in the center. He lay his head over the mound of flesh, goose-pimply from the cool night air as they rested, entwined in the hammock. He left a trail of kisses up and over as her fingers raked though his hair. He had never been happier. He kissed her belly one last time, anxious that their daughter would be born in a few weeks.

Zach lay in the grass, pretending to sleep. His eyes were closed and he felt exposed, knowing that his predator was near. He heard the screech from his left side, but was pounced upon on his right. Emma screeched as he grabbed her and Connor pounced from the left, but Zach was laughing and not at all thinking about when he and Ginny used to play this way before the little ones were born. In fact, wasn't Emma…

Zach knew immediately when asked what his best _and_ his worst day was. It was the same day. 30 December 2000. He had his try-out for the Appleby Arrows. He played his best game. He did really well. He scored twice, once dangling from his broom. Unfortunately, there was only one spot open on the team, and that went to Alexander Krum, Viktor's younger brother. Zach was devastated. He almost didn't see Ginny when he ran into her. She had watched the try-out and though he did superbly. It was too bad he didn't make the team, and did he want to get a bite to eat. He didn't feel so bad after lunch.

No one was more surprised than he was when Ginny showed up at his office in the sports liaison department and asked him to marry her. His office partner James Berney sat there, grinning, staring at the balloons that matched the Harpies' uniform she was wearing. He didn't recognize his own voice as it said, "Sure, next Saturday?" When she leapt over his desk and landed in his lap, he guessed he'd said the right thing.

Emma almost died when she was two. She choked on one of the crup's toys. It was only happenstance that Zach had taken a Muggle First Aid class as part of the new Muggle relations program at the Ministry. He didn't know it was called the Heimlich Maneuver, but he didn't care. He only knew that his daughter was throwing up and crying at the top of her lungs and it was the best sound he'd ever heard.

Once he had been forgiven, Zach began to meet Ernie at the Leaky Cauldron every Thursday. Susan was there and Megan and Wayne. They were engaged now. Hannah owned the pub and Neville spent more time there than at Hogwarts. One night, they ran into Ginny, Hermione, Fleur and Angelina out for a Weasley girls' night. They were loud and drunk and for some reason the music was loud and fast and they were dancing. He didn't realize he was staring until Ernie kicked him under the chair and Susan laughed. The next week Ginny and Hermione joined them. After that, Zach and Ginny flooed together.

Zach found out how much Ginny loved him two years after she was hired to play chaser for the Holyhead Harpies. Gwenog Jones made a comment that revealed that she could have made the team earlier, but she cancelled her try-out for a "prior commitment." Zach had never heard this before, so he pressed her on it, but she refused to discuss it. Gwenog liked firewhisky and after a couple of rounds, she divulged the one date of the first try-out. 30 December 2000. He looked at Ginny and shook his head, but she simply shrugged and squeezed his hand.

He watched Ginny dance with her father (for the third time). Giving away his only daughter in marriage was apparently not easy for Mr. Weasley, and Zach was generously sharing his new wife. For now. He stepped away for a drink when he was cornered by Ron. They began to chat and were soon joined by Michael Corner, Dean Thomas and Harry Potter. Then, one by one, George, Percy, Charlie and Bill came over. Zach soon realized that he was in the center of a very intimidating circle and told, in not so many words, that there was a direct correlation, as Michael said, to his manhood's survival and Ginny's continuing happiness. Zach easily agreed and quickly took leave of Ginny's protectors. After their first real fight, when he was forced to sleep on the sofa (at Ernie's house), he slept with his wand in one hand, half expecting Bill and Charlie to come and make good on their wedding day threat.


End file.
